Saturday, 28th-July-2018
KCCA FC (Uganda) Vs Esperance (Tunisia)
Mandela National Stadium,Namboole
Match Officials
•Center Referee: Janny Sikazwe (Zambia)
•1st Assistant Referee: Oliver Mweene (Zambia)
•2nd Assistant Referee: Chansa Kabwe (Zambia)
LUGOGO – A visit at KCCA FC’s training base at Phillip Omondi stadium paints a picture of men of the mission.
Under the watchful eye of manager Mike Mutebi, the vigor and enthusiasm exuded by the yellow boys as they go through their paces is one to relish.
Literally, it is safe to ascertain that skipper Timothy Awany and co, have already buried the hatchet of their first leg 3-2 capitulation to Esperance in Tunisia last Tuesday, and to put it mildly, they are plotting for payback time.
Uganda’s CAF Champions league representatives, who on Wednesday evening shifted training base from Lugogo to the match venue at Namboole national Stadim, are targeting maximum points if they are to boast their chances of progression to the quarter finals of Africa’s most lucrative club competition.
Manager Mike Mutebi bemoaned naivety and inexperience for their capitulation in Tunis and will be hoping it won’t return to haunt his charges.
Yet newly acquired defender Bernard Muwanga, whose ineffectual presence in KCCA FC backline in reverse fixture was apparent is preaching renaissance.
“We shall have to avoid the defensive blunders we made and put up a better fight aggressively, said Muwanga.
“We ask the fans to come support us and be the 12th player to give us home advantage.
But they have a tough job on their hands to navigate as they engage an Esperance team that, with a cursory look on group a standings, are seated in comfort zone.
They are yet to lose any group game thus far and are not short of character either, as they rallied from 2-0 down and usurped their Ugandan counterparts 3-2 at their own backyard in the reveres fixture.
The Tunisian’s record on the road is also rosy as they have lost just once from their last eight outings.
Mike Mutebi is sweating over the fitness of the pair of Gift Ali and Jackson Nunda which both reported to be nursing muscle problems.
The adroit attacker (Nunda), who scored the opener and had a hand in KCCA FC’s second against the Tunisian giants in the first leg last Tuesday, has sat out a string of training sessions.
He missed the 3-0 victory over Makindye select in a warn up match a few days ago coincidentally where Gift Ali is believed have sustained an injury and has not trained since then.
